The Church of Christ early years in the Far
East under the
stewardship
of Brother Felix Y. Manalo

Brother Felix Manalo began
preaching about the Church of Christ in Punta, Sta. Ana. At first a
handful of people believed and he baptized them at the Pasig River.
This was the first baptism conducted
by the Church of Christ in the Philippines. The first converts
became the first members of the oldest Iglesia ni Cristo local
congregation - Punta, Sta. Ana.

The next congregation of
the Church to be established was the local congregation of Tipas, in
Taguig, the Messenger's hometown.
Despite the persecution from his town mates, he courageously preached
the gospel resulting in the establishment of this local congregation.

Brother Manalo then applied for the registration
of the Church of Christ with the Philippine government and
this was approved on the 27th of July 1914—concurrent with the
outbreak of the First
World War—just as prophesied in the Scriptures.

From Taguig, the Messenger also preached in its
neighboring towns, in Pateros and then in Pasig, which led to the
establishment of local congregations in these places.

After these, he went back to Manila and preached
in the crowded place of Tondo in 1915. The small gatherings
eventually grew bigger and bigger and started to attract the
attention of many, which prompted not just a few religious leaders
to challenge Brother Manalo in public debates.

In those debates, his rivals did not succeed in
humiliating him. Instead, it was the other way around: they were the
ones put to shame and the truthfulness of the teachings of God
taught by the Messenger shone even brighter before the public. This
was also a fulfillment of God's promise to His Messenger as recorded
in Isaiah 41:9-15.

Despite the harsh persecutions, people continued
to join the Church. In just one year since he started preaching the
Church, he was able to establish five local congregations -the local
congregations of Punta, Tipas, Pulo, Buting, and Tayuman.

The Messenger continued propgating the gospel not
only in the above-mentioned localities but also in other places. He
trained the Church officers whom he appointed in each local
congregation. He still had to engage in religious debates with other
preachers. At the same time, he also took care of the counseling and
edification of the brethren who faced various problems. Having all
these undertakings to shoulder, he still had to suffer the
persecutions of his detractors.

But all these did not dampen his spirit nor did
they detract from his. determination because
his only objective was to fulfill the task
entrusted to him by God. He was encouraged by his confidence that in
carrying out his tasks God was always with him (Isa. 41:9-10).

At around that time, he started the teaching and
training of would-be ministers who would help him in the propagation
and edification of the Church. In May 1919, the very first
ordination of the Church
was conducted. Three ministers were ordained
by Brother Manalo on that historic occasion.

From a handful of congregations at the start, the
Church after its first decade of existence had a total of 45
congregations. Fourteen of those local
congregations were in the province of Pampanga and
those congregations were brought together by Brother Felix Manalo to
form one ecclesiastical Division or District. The Messenger of
God organized the Church as such to effectively oversee the
brethren.

As the number of ministers and evangelical
workers gradually increased, the Church
of Christ continued to spread over the whole of Luzon
and by 1937, the Church had reached the Visayas. And before
the outbreak of World War II, the Church had also reached Cotabato,
a province in Mindanao.

In 1939, Brother Manato published the
first issue of Pasugo:
God's Message, the official magazine of the Church of Christ.
This marked the beginning of the propagation of the gospel by
means of mass media.

When the Japanese invaded the country
in 1942, the Church continued with its
various spiritual endeavors in spite of the bombings and armed
conflicts waged in different parts of the country. The brethren
throughout the archipelago were caringly administered, and they
remained active in attending the worship services and in sharing
their faith.

The growth and spread of the Church increased at a
phenomenal rate after the war. Membership of the focal congregations
increased. And the need to build bigger houses of worship was
compelling. In 1948, the Messenger built the first concrete house of
worship of the Church at Washington Street (now known as Maceda
Street), Sampaloc, Manila and at present, it is still being
used by the Local Congregation of Washington.

That event was the start of the construction of
huge and magnificent houses of worship of the Church of Christ where
worship services are. continuously being held, such as those of F.
Manalo, Caloocan, Cubao, Pasay, Solis, Angeles City, Baguio City,
Tipas, Paco, Bacoor, Cabanatuan City, Orani, Batangas City, Malabon,
Tarlac, Lucena City, Cavite City, San Francisco del Monte, San
Fernando, San Pablo City and many more that can be found all over
the country.

Ten years before his demise, Brother Felix Manalo
made sure that the assembly of ministers elected someone who would
replace him as Church Administrator in the event that God would lay
him to rest. Brother Erano G. Manalo was
unanimously elected to succeed him as Executive Minister by the
district ministers gathered at the house of worship of the Local
Congregation of Riverside (now the
local Congregation of F. Manalo) on January 23, 1953. There was
ample time for the Messenger of God to prepare and train Brother
Erano Manalo for such a noble task.

___________________

Source: Excerpt from a special report - 27
July 2008
Church of Christ (Iglesia ni Cristo)
94 years in the Philippines; 40 years of Overseas Mission